A news item from the end of 2009 too important not to pass along:  this Tom Walsh column from the Free Press.  Not only does Michigan’s insurance mandate cost drivers, it may cost jobs.

Tom Wilson, president and CEO of Chicago-based Allstate Corp., told me recently that consumers are becoming more and more savvy about managing their own coverage choices.

That's why Wilson, a St. Clair Shores native and University of Michigan grad, launched Allstate's "Your Choice Auto" program in 2006, offering cafeteria-style coverage packages.

Auto insurance in Michigan, Wilson said, "is more expensive than it needs to be" because the mandate of unlimited medical benefits "doesn't put economic discipline in the system."

Wilson and other insurers understand that auto insurance, a product drivers are required by law to purchase, will always be a highly regulated industry. All parties agree on the need to reduce the number of uninsured motorists and make more affordable coverage available to low-income drivers.

The alternative?  You get Buckeyes setting up websites like this.